Dreaming of a white Christmas

On the way over to Grams this year for Christmas we saw snow flakes!!!  Yay for snow on Christmas, what the best Christmas gift ever!   We enjoyed time with my family and had an incredible meal!  Thanks Grams for all your hard work.  Belle loved all her gifts, her big girl chair, turtle(thanks Uncle Kevin and Lynn) and her stylish outfit from Aunt Emily and Aunt Annie).    There has also been a competition between Grams and Umpa G (which I have know been corrected...its Ompa G) on what name Belle will say first.  It's official she can point to her Ompa G and say his name (i.e. Coach G).  She just loves hanging out with her Ompa and giving him big hugs!

My most favorite part of Christmas this year was after we were back home from all our celebrations of Christ's birthday :), Bri and I bundled up Belle and we took a walk through our neighborhood in the snow.  It was beautiful, magical and peaceful!  It truly allowed us to reflect on all the blessings the Lord has given us and I know that we will never forget that beautiful night!  Merry Christmas!

Santa Claus visits!

We had planned on an early wake up call on Christmas, but much to our suprise Belle slept in until 8:00am!  We def. aren't complaining :) Early on Christmas morning Santa must have arrived to our house! As we made our way downstairs there were some presents for Ms. Belle that must have been left by Santa.  Santa ate some of the cookies that Belle left him and drank most of his milk.  He must have been thirsty from all the chimney scaling.   Belle loved checking out her Santa gifts and ripping some wrapping paper.  Baby Alive was a hit in our house!

We enjoyed a leisurely morning before heading over to Grams!

A Merry little Casterline Christmas Party!

Our wonderful college friends Jeff and Caryn have an annual party at his parent's house the night before Christmas Eve.  We always have so much fun catching up with old college buddies that we have not seen in a long time.  This year we were able to seem some friends that we have not seen in a very long time which was awesome.  Belle and Riley enjoyed a little playtime, but the bed was calling them both soon after we arrived!

Thanks guys as always for an awesome time!

Christmas Eve

Before we headed to church Belle opened her first present on Christmas Eve, from Grandpa and Lizzie!  She enjoyed ripping off the wrapping paper and loved listening to her newest "Twas the Night before Christmas"

We celebrate Christmas Eve with Bri's family every year by attending the service at the "home" church in Old Salem.  Since the service is so popular there is a long wait to even get a seat!  We arrived at 12:45pm for the 2:30pm service and let's just say Belle wasn't able to make it :(.  Too much for a 15 month!!  While we LOVE the beautiful service, we have decided that we might have to sit it out a few years until Ms. Belle is a little older and can truly enjoy it!

After the service we enjoyed a lovely meal at Bri's parents!  The decorations were beautiful and we were so blessed by family fellowship!  We also must have been really good this year with all the presents!  Belle received a beautiful doll from Strasburg Children.  She has matching dresses, too cute!!  As you can tell in the picture she also received a high chair for all her babies.  It was Gigi's when she was a little girl so we are honored to allow Belle play with it as well.

Deck the halls...

It took me much longer to decorate the house this year for Christmas and I must say I didn't complete my "typical" Christmas!  I realized last year I wasn't working (duh!-I was on maternity leave) and Belle was not mobile, which made things much easier! Even though, my decorations weren't as lovely in years past I enjoyed getting the house somewhat ready, but more than that enjoyed the time with my family instead :). Here are a few pictures of the Ledbetter house this year at Christmas!